HYDE PARK — The Human Thread Foundation is trying to raise $5,000 for cameras for Woodlawn teens recording oral histories with neighborhood elders.
“It’s to empower them through their own history and give them insights about themselves,” said Michiko Kabayashi, director of the Human Thread Foundation, of the Woodlawn Voices and Vision Project.
Starting Monday, 30 teens from Woodlawn will go out for six weeks and interview elders of the community, including historian Timuel Black and Rudy Nimocks, the former chief of the University of Chicago Police Department.
“We’re still short of equipment like cameras and we’re hoping to get a laptop,” Kabayashi said. “We’re trying to raise enough to make sure our students have a full experience.”
Kabayashi, Hyde Park Herald editor Gabriel Piemonte and activist Rhoda Freelon will guide the teens through interviews. The teens will have access to video editing equipment at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago.
A screening party will be held in July at First Presbyterian Church, 6400 S. Kimbark Ave.
The Human Thread is raising money through the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and is offering personalized thank you’s from the students for donors.
The program is also looking for volunteers.
For more information, visit woodlawnvoices.org.
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